Working Hard or Hardly Working

Today was a shorter day at the Down News for Alexis and I as Jim had to be in Belfast for the ngiht, after our usually breakfast and mocha at French's cafe in the St. Patrick Centre. Jim picked us up and we headed straight to the office to get a little bit of work done before heading to a PR event in Newcastle. I finished up the final edit of my article and sent it over to Jim, while he finished up editing a few articles he had already started. Then it was off to the Slieve Donard Resort, this Victorian hotel has been offering Irish hospitality for over 100 years with beautiful beaches on one side and the Royal County Down Golf Links on the other. There are amazing views no matter where you look, from the Mourne Mountains to the Irish Sea. Jim was there to take some photo's of the PR event for The Open (Or The British Open) the worlds original and most international golf championship will make a historic return to Northern Ireland after nearly 70 years, last being played in 1951 at Port Rush. Discover Ireland and many other news outlets were there to take photos of local golf club presidents, golfers, with the coveted Claret Jug. Several local primary school classes along with Charlie Casey the chairperson of the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and other community figures were also in attendance. While there Jim introduced us to the people that he knew and we had a good chat with a few Presidents of various golf clubs. We also had the opportunity to meet Charlie Casey and grab a quick photo. Afterword Jim explained to us some of the important things about taking photos at a PR event as well as information about how he will be formatting the article that ends up being published on the website. We stopped for a quick bite to eat and of course Alexis and I both got Mochas, at a little shop right along the water before we headed back to Downpatrick. Along the way of course had to stop for a famous Brennan's ice cream, I had a delicious cone with strawberry sauce and a 99(the name for adding a Flaky which is a flaked chocolate sweet to your ice-cream) this place is definitely worth the stop! Brennan's absolutely lives up to the hype of the best creamy homemade ice-cream, they may only do vanilla but they do it well and the toppings are seemingly endless. This brought us to the end of our day with Jim and the Down News; as we hadn't had a chance to see it yet Alexis(Albany) and I decided since it was a little before 5pm to head to the Down Museum.

Housed in the old Goal or Jail, the Down museum looks deceptively small from the outside but has many different exhibits as well as a coffee shop. We spent time going through the history of the area and its links to larger events such as the war and the troubles, they have a fantastic video room where you can watch hundreds of old videos, we probably spent nearly an hour looking at old football footage and tourism videos. You can walk through the old jail cells and even have a peek at the gallows, which are a bit eerie. When we were nearly done, Michael (Canada) met up with us as he had just finished his day with a local storyteller and artist. We all headed to the centre grabbing sandwich's and having a look in some of the shops along the way, Michael decided to head home for a quick nap while Alexis and I headed to the Down shopping centre for a few things.

As we all started to arrive back at the house and what has fast become the normal night time routine chaos ensued. Everyone was talking describing their days asking questions and generally catching up on each others days; during this people were changing and getting food, and of course discussing the evenings plans. We were all off to a Gaelic football match, Emma was picking us all up to see Loughinisland play that evening. As most of us had never seen a match at all and never in person there was lots of excitement in the air as we all got ready, trading our more professional attire for sweatshirts and trainers. There was a lot of discussion over who Loughinisland was playing as no one could seem to remember, and funny enough none of us remembered after either. It was a brilliant match! As we watched, Emma and nearby fans helped to explain the rules and scoring as the ball moved quickly around the field from player to player. Gealic is a very fast paced game, even with a break for "half-time" (during which we were able to grab a cup of tea!) the whole match only lasted about an hour and a half. It was very exciting and I could definitely see myself going to local matches every week if I lived here. We got back to the house just in time to watch the last half of Love Island, thanks to Alexis this has become a nightly routine if we are home. A few of us decided to stay up and watch X-Men which was on TV before heading off to bed, I've noticed that American television and music is very popular over here at the moment.

Leaving out more of the intricacies, these were the rules were explained to us. Two teams of 15 players each play on a grass field with a goal on each side, similar to a football/soccer goal except two posts extend above the netted part of the goal. The aim is to score more overall points than the other team, if you kick the ball into the net this is a goal and worth 3 points, if a player kicks or fists (oh yeah you can use your hands) the ball above the crossbar/netter part then this is 1 point. The game is played in two 30 minute halves, and if there is a tie the game must be replayed. Moving the ball around the field seems to be the most complicated part, you can kick the ball out of your hands, kick it along the ground and run with it in your hands. However you cannot run more than 4 steps with the ball, so after four steps you can either bounce it off the ground or your foot, it appears you must alternate between the two. Also while doing this you have 15 members of the opposing team trying to steal the ball, there's various ways to pass to teammates. There are various foul's and penalties but one game was definitely not enough to figure them all out! Also it bears noting that "if the ref's don't see it" was usually added when things that are a foul or penalty were explained to us by people at the match.

Tomorrow is my last day with Down News as Jim Masson is off to Poland, this week has been very education and working with Jim hardly seems like work at all. He has been a great source of information, of both the news and local culture and issues. Throughout his life Jim has done so many different things, from owning a fish and chips shop to writing his own novel, giving him varied experience and knowledge he has been able to pass along to Alexis and I during our time with him. I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with him, and that I have been placed with Alexis as it has given me the chance to get to know her as well.